Rug cleaning machine



` April 29, 1958 c. A. KETCHUM ETAL RUG CLEANING MACHINE Filed Sept. 16,1954 M M i. fw my fr.. .K M ,7, n 4 MM f c /W/ /7 United States RUGernannte MACHINE Clarence A. Ketchum, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wiiiiam D.Kemp, Irondequoit, N. Y., assignors to The American Laundry MachineryCompany, Cincinnati, Ohio, a cor poration of Ohio Application September16, 1954, Serial No. 656,522

3 Claims. (Cl. 6th-263) This invention relates to improvements in acombined stripper and conveyor means for use in connection with removinga piece of material, such as a rug, from clinging engagement with arotatable roll, such as occurs in a rug wringing unit ordinarily used inconnection with a rug scrubbing machine.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide means forstripping and conveying a piece of material from clinging engagementwith a rotatable roll, wherein an endless conveyor is arranged with theaxes of its end pulleys substantially parallel to the axis of the rollfrom which the material is to be stripped, with the con* vcyor havingconnected fingers spaced along it and extending outwardly beyond theconveyor where it passes around the said one of said end pulleys, thepulley being held in a position nearly tangent to the roll surface sothat the fingers there approach the roll surface nearer than thethickness of the material to be stripped away, and the upper run of theconveyor travels away from this point of near tangency so that theiingers strip the material from the roll and start it along the upperrun of the conveyor.

Other objects of the invention include means for adjusting the positionof the conveyor so as to accurately control the stripping action of thefingers, together with quickly adjustable means for holding the conveyoreither close to the roll from which the material is stripped or clear ofthat roll to permit the material to fall vertically downwardly away fromthe roll.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear fromthe accompanying description and drawings and the essential featuresthereof will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a central sectional view through the rug wringn ing unitordinarily used in conjunction with a rug scrubbing machine;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view taken near the bottom ofFig. 1 where one of the end pulleys of a conveyor is closely tangent tothe lower wringer roll; while Fig. 3 is a fragmental top plan view takenfrom the position of the line 3-3 of Fig, 2.

Prior machines of this character, known to us, provided arrangementswhere the leading edge of a rug contacted the edge of a delivery plate,or series of stationary lingers, which stripped the rug from the roll,after which it slid across the plate or series of fingers. Such anarrangement is illustrated in United States Patent No. 2,304,592,granted December 8, 1942, to Robert C. Pauly. While the presentinvention may be applied to various types of machines, we have chosen toillustrate the same in a rug wringing unit ordinarily .used inconjunction with a rug scrubbing machine such as that shown in the abovementioned Pauly patent or a later type shown in our copendingapplication Serial No. 454,001, tiled September 3, 1954, now Patent No.2,737,153 granted April 2, 1957.

The present machine has a frame which includes two fie sul

generally parallel side frame members as shown in the above mentionedPauly patent and one of which is shown here at 10. Two large rubbercovered pressure `rolls 11 and 12 are rotatably mounted in the sideframes 10, the roll 12 being fixed in position, the roll 11 beingmovably mounted for vertical movement in the end frames 10 and urgeddownwardly by a large air cylinder and piston motor 13 located outsideof each of the side frames l0 and pressing downwardly upon the trunnionof the roller 12.

A rug 14 is delivered into the bite of these pressure rolls usually by aconveyor means such as that shown at 15 which may be the conveyor meansof either the above mentioned Pauly patent or of our above :mentionedcopending patent application. As the rug travels around the lower roll12 beyond the point where the rug is squeezed, our novel means is`provided for stripping the rug as it clings to the roll 12 and forconveying it away from the roll.

An endless conveyor 16 has one end pulley 16a rotatably mounted in fixedbrackets 17 which are connected to the main frame 1t). The other endpulley 16b of the conveyor is rotatably mounted ateach end in one of twoparallel arms 18, each pivotally mounted at 19 on one of the end frames10 and on opposite sides of the rug 14 so that arms 1S do not interferewith the passage of the rug. Each arm 18 is pivotally connected at 20with a clevis 21 which in turn is connected by an :adjustable link 22 toa connecting member 23 which is curved to clear a cross shaft 24 whichserves as a pivotal mounting for a handle A crank arm 26 is secured formovement with the handle 2S about the pivot point 24. The connectingmember 23 is pivotally connected with arm 26 at the point 27.

Conveyor 16 is preferably composed of a series of narrow belts 16e,although wider ones could be used. Those shown are of tough, resilientconstruction and comprise a surface of rubber-like material havingcog-like projections or fingers 16d extending radially outwardly fromthe conveyor belt as it passes around the end pulley 16b. In theposition of the parts shown in Figs. l and 2, the conveyor 16 is held sothat its one end pulley 16]) is nearly tangent to the wringer roll 12,the parts holding this position because the leverrarm 26 is on deadcenter or slightly over dead center to maintain the position shown inFig. l. ln this position, the ends of the ingers 16d approach the rollsurface 12 nearer than the thickness of the material to be stripped suchas the rug 14. Means, not shown, of commonly known character is providedfor driving the conveyor so that its upper run travels in the directionof the arrows of Figs. l and 2. It results from this construction. that"the iingers 16d strip the leading edge of the rug 14 from the surface ofroll 12 and start it up the upper run of the conveyor 16 to be conveyedto a convenient discharge point.

Preferably, means is provided for moving the end pulley 16h away fromroll 12 so as to permit the rug 14 to fall vertically downwardly asindicated at 14a in dotdash lines, In the above mentioned Pauly patent,this arrangement is necessary to permit the rug to strike the plate ofthat patent to travel along the conveyor 106 of that patent back to thestarting position in the rug cleaning machine. A similar conveyor isshown in our above mentioned copending patent application. In thepresent disclosure, the handle 25 may be moved counterclockwiseapproximately degrees from the position shown in Fig. 1 which will alsomove the arm 26 180 degrees from the position shown in Fig. 1 which willdrop the lower end of the conveyor 16 to the dot-dash positionindicated. 1n this position, the rug 14, as indicated at 14a, may fallclear of the conveyor as it drops vertically downward from a positiontangent to the .lower roll on the side thereof toward the conveyor.Returning the handle 25 upwardly again to the position of Fig. 1automatically positions the lingers ldd the desired distance from thesurface of the roll 12. A line adjustment of this distance may beobtained through the adjustable link 22 which has right and left handthread connections respectively with the clevis 21 and the connectingmember 23.

Counterbalancing means may be provided, if desired, for the weight ofthe conveyor 16 so as to aid the operator in moving it upwardly from thedot-dash position of Fig. l to the full line position there shown. Wehave shown for this purpose a cable 28 having one end connected to thefree end of oneof the arms 13, and having its other end wound around adrum 29 in which there is provided a spiral spring loaded to urge thedrum 29 in a counter clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. l so as totend to wind up the cable 28 and aid in lifting the conveyor 16.

Fingers 30 are provided alongside of the belts 16C to maintain theirlateral spacing.

We have thus provided a simple but positive stripping action by means ofa series of lingers 16d strikingthe leading edge of a rug and thenfunctioning as a traction means to convey the rug positively away fromthe wringer roll without the possibility of catching or wrinkling.

What we claim is:

1. In a rug cleaning machine having a frame and a pair of mutuallyengaging upper and lower wringer rolls rotatably mounted in said framefor removing moisture from a rug passing between them; `the combinationtherewith of an endless belt conveyor having a mounting on said frame,said conveyor having end pulleys over which said belt passes, saidconveyor mounting being holdable in one position holding one of said endpulleys in a position nearly tangent to the surface of the lower of saidrolls at a zone spaced around the surface of said lower roll -in thedirection of rug travel beyond the zone of mutual engagement of saidrolls and below the center of said lower roll, the upper run of saidconveyor in said one position traveling away from said Zone of neartangency whereby to strip a rug from said lower roll and start it alongsaid upper run of said conveyor, said conveyor mounting including armmeans pivotally mounted on said trarne, said one end pulley rotatablymounted in the free end of said arm means, and lever means operativelyconnecting said arm means with said frame and having two positions ofrest in one of which said lever means holds said one end pulley in saidone position nearly tangent to said lower roll, and in the other ofwhich said lever means holds said one end pulley clear of a planeextending vertically downward from that side of said lower roll facingtoward said conveyor.

2. The combination of claim l wherein said arm means comprises aplurality yof arms said lever means includes a lever for each of saidarms, each said lever having one end pivotally mounted on said frame andhaving its other end pivotally connected with an associated arm, andsaid positions of rest placing said lever in substantially verticallyupward and vertically downward positions.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said lever means includes a crankarm having an axis for oscillation mounted on said frame, an operativeconnection including link means having at one end a pivotal connectionwith said arm means and at its other end a pivotal connection with saidcrank arm at a point thereon spaced from said axis, and said two pivotalconnections being substantially in vertical alignment with said crankarm axis in said two positions of rest of said lever means.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 410,312Church Sept. 3, 1889 412,887 Lorminer Oct. 15, 1889 1,180,517 MallonApr. 25, 1916 1,556,505 Englerth Oct. 6, 1925 1,856,049 Cannity Apr. 26,1932 2,406,108 Schellenberg Aug. 20, 1946 2,593,383 Beaver Apr. 15, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS 272,005 Great Britain Apr. 1, 1926 661,119 Great BritainNov. 14, 1951

